Release Date: Dec. 10, 2002
SOCIAL ISOLATION LEAVES ELDERLY AT RISK
FOR HEART TROUBLE
By Becky Ham, Staff Writer
Health Behavior News Service
Loneliness, lack of emotional support and lack of companionship or social
support can leave elderly
men and women vulnerable to heart problems, according to new research in
the December issue of the
journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
Dara Sorkin, a Ph.D. candidate of the University of California, Irvine, and
colleagues found that for every
unit increase in loneliness as measured among older adults in their study,
there was a threefold
increase in the odds of being diagnosed with a heart condition.
Units of loneliness were measured using information from a loneliness
survey, during which the adults
agreed or disagreed strongly with statements like "I can't find
companionship when I want it."
The researchers used similar information to calculate each adult's
perceived emotional support and
social support or companionship. Every unit increase in perceived emotional
support and companionship
was associated with a 97 percent and 91 percent decrease, respectively, in
the odds of having a heart
condition.
Although previous researchers have noted links between social isolation and
cardiovascular disease
(see related HBNS story at www.hbns.org/newsrelease/lonliness5-23-02.cfm),
few have examined the
direct correlation between the subjective feeling of "loneliness" and the
medical condition of heart
disease, say the researchers.
"Moreover, with few exceptions, researchers generally have not
distinguished between two underlying
social deficits that give rise to loneliness - specifically, unmet needs
for emotional support and unmet
needs for companionship," Sorkin observes.
The health effects of social isolation may be especially important among
the elderly, since older adults
commonly experience disruption of their personal relationships by death or
illness or may be removed
from their social networks when they move into nursing homes or other
managed care facilities.
Sorkin and her co-authors surveyed 180 elderly men and women ranging in age
from 58 to 90, asking
them to rate their level of loneliness, the availability of emotional
support and companionship in their
lives and the number of individuals that they could turn to for either
support or companionship. Sixty-four
percent of the participants were single, widowed or divorced, and slightly
less than half of the individuals
lived alone.
The participants also received a battery of medical tests for
cardiovascular disease factors such as high
cholesterol. The researchers conducted in-person interviews with the
participants to assess depression
and health behaviors such as smoking and lack of exercise.
Along with the significant correlation among loneliness, lack of emotional
support and lack of
companionship and heart disease, the authors found that levels of support
and companionship were also
significantly related to loneliness itself.
Having just one person around for emotional support seemed to be enough to
reduce the risk of heart
disease, while the healthy effects of social support required relationships
with multiple individuals,
according to the authors.
Despite these connections, Sorkin and colleagues were not able to identify
any possible mechanisms
by which feelings of loneliness could lead to heart problems, such as
evidence that loneliness
contributes to unhealthy behaviors like smoking or physical problems like
high blood pressure.
The researchers suggest that further research on the link between
loneliness and heart disease will
benefit from considering how emotional support and companionship each
contribute to the overall feeling
of loneliness.
This research was supported by the National Institute on Aging.
# # #
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.
Interviews: : Contact Dara Sorkin at (949) 824-5917 or [log in to unmask]
Annals of Behavioral Medicine: Contact Robert Kaplan, Ph.D., (619)
534-6058.
Center for the Advancement of Health
Contact: Ira R. Allen
Director of Public Affairs
202.387.2829
[log in to unmask]
Send one line: unsubscribe click4hp to: [log in to unmask] to unsubscribe
See: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/click4hp.html to alter your subscription
|